Over at TIME.com, my Technologizer column for this week is about the theory that people who buy Apple products act like cult members. As the theory would have it, they snap up Macs, iPhones, and iPads not because they’re good products, but because they’re mesmerized by Apple advertising and think that owning the company’s products makes them better human beings. Or something like that.

My take is that the theory was always silly–and that it’s particularly nonsensical in an age in which truly vast numbers of people are buying Apple products. The company’s customer base isn’t made up of like-minded fanatics; it consists of a large variety of people who buy Apple stuff for all sorts of reasons. But mostly, I hope and think, because they find it useful.

I didn’t expect the cult idea’s true believers to read my column, slap themselves in the forehead, and instantly cease believing that there’s something morally and/or mentally suspect about Apple fans. So I wasn’t surprised that the story attracted some comments that said things like this:

What a blundering article.

The fact is, when you go to buy a PC you have to take in many facts; ultimately make a personal choice for what works best. There is minimal, if any real choices to be made about how your want your Mac laptop/desktop/phone to be. They make products for people who can’t take the time to distinguish one laptop from another, other than new models being skinnier than the older ~ it is less about them being a ‘cult’ and more about people mindlessly praising a product they really know little to nothing about. Honestly, do you need to pay Apple’s prices for what you do on any given day with your laptop? (Well…maybe if it was a gaming rig.)

Android has a reputation for attracting geeks, i.e. ‘people who know what they are doing.’ If I fall into dislike with HTC’s product line, I can switch to Samsung or Motorola & keep my apps, songs, movies, books ~ they aren’t trapped in one rigid ecosystem. It’s no secret that the iPhone sold on simplicity & image, so you’ll excuse us if we’re tired of hearing waves of praise from the unknowing masses. And that’s no stereotype.

Okay, according to this commenter, it’s not so much that Apple users are a cult. But they are “unknowing masses” who are “mindlessly” praising a product they don’t understand.

I guess I have three primary problems with this stance:

1) I’m not an idiot! At least I don’t think I am. And when I’ve bought Apple products, it hasn’t been because I was unable to compare products and make a decision. In fact, in every case, I have compared products–such as multiple laptops, including both Windows PCs and Macs–and chosen the Apple product.

(Sometimes, by the way, I consider the Apple product and buy something else instead.)

2) 37 million people bought iPhones in the last quarter of 2011 alone. They’re all morons? None of them know anything about computers?

3) Really, any theory that involves vast numbers of people all buying any one product for the identical reason is inherently specious. Human beings don’t work that way. There are dozens of reasons to buy Apple products–and dozens of reasons to not buy them–and different people make different decisions based on a variety of factors.

It all seems to boil down to this: Apple products don’t appeal to me, and that means that if they appeal to you, you’re an idiot.

Surely I’m not the only one who finds this attitude not just wrongheaded but sad?

42 Comments For This Post

I totally agree with you and appreciate this article. Thank you. Once upon a time I was just like the person that commented prior to myself as well as the person(s) you describe in the article. I refused to buy Apple and really knew nothing but I followed the mantra that Apple users were “dumb” and non technical people. Until the day I picked up my first Apple device which was an iPad. That changed my whole outlook on things. I now mainly use Apple products simply because for the most part I feel they are amazing products. My iPad , iPhone and iMac all sync seemlessly and are all beautiful and are great functioning devices. It kills me that people would stereotypically consider myself and other Apple users “mindless” and kills me even more that I was once as ignorant!

After all how could I be so “mindless” and know nothing of computer decision making when I am a Software Engineer major who learns programming every chance I get? Doesn’t add up does it! Using Apple, in specific my Mac has opened my eyes to really appreciate the Unix system and has advanced my technical computing language ten fold as well as open my eyes to many other Unix variants. Here’s something interesting. Most people would consider a Ubuntu/Linux user to be a “geek” stereotypically. Just the way it is. While the same people consider Apple/Mac users to be “mindless”. What these people foolishly fail to realize us that both file systems are pretty much the same and lock the user out if root files for their own good not because ” Apple controls everything” or “to live in an Apple cell”. I can also control my whole system from the command line which is another thing using a Mac has taught me. I’m not boasting as most of this is trivial, I’m just giving an example of how we are not all “sheep” and mindless followers.

Most people who say detrimental things about a product are usually just ignorant to the product or are just flat out haters. After all I was once labeled this myself. Glad that’s changed! To any other readers that may be guilty of this, try it, you may be surprised.

This coming from someone whose blog is constantly filled with pro-Apple articles, as well as non-Apple articles that somehow manage to find ways to sing Apple’s praises (hence my new informal name for it, “Techappleizer”). Forgive me for thinking that your words of protest ring somewhat hollow.

I think you're conflating iTards with Apple users. The latter is a group of people who find Apple products as what they prefer; nothing wrong with that. The former, however, are the morons and "hipster douchebags" who feel that purchasing Cupertino products is a license to be smug and superior. Those people would be the same with whatever product was the "it" product. The iTards, thus, can rightly be called a cult – a cult of personality.

I have no problem with Apple users; I used to be one myself before circumstances necessitated my switch to an all-Wintel environment. iTards, however, earn my utter contempt.

I bought an iPhone because there are too many choices in the Android market. Fragmentation is a big problem in a growing platform, so there is a higher risk of obsolescence. That said, I’m not against Android. I may consider it once the market has evened out.

Based on your first paragraph, don't you mean the Anti-Apple Cult? The two comments prior to mine seem to exemplify the type since even though I've been an Apple user for 32 years I've chosen Apple because of how it's benefitted me, not because of any "iTard" brainwashing.

I've owned Windows PCs, built them and, when Apple was at its lowest, used them as my small-business production boxes (outside of full-time employee work where I had no choice) but still retained my Apples as my internet and personal use devices. Even in my consulting business I select–or help select–the best machine available for my clients' needs. I've recommended iMacs running Windows 7 for one client for its reliability while I recommended a less-expensive Toshiba all-in-one for another. I will say I wanted to put her in a Mac Mini, but I will also note that she did have a need for a built-in optical drive and I didn't want to add the cost of an external drive in her case. It really does depend on the individual's own needs. At the moment, going completely removable-drive-free is premature.

So to me such insults as iTard and Apple Cultist merely shows how much more strongly the anti-Apple mindset seems a defensive reaction–fear that their own beloved Windows is under threat of becoming irrelevant. They really shouldn't worry, because now there is true competition in the computer marketplace and at some point we will reach a balance between the many platforms and compatibilities will become more prevalent than differences. I personally believe that Apple will continue to hold the smaller 'share' but lead the technologies at least for another decade and maybe longer.

Apple made this bed with their I'm a Mac and Think Different ads. Combined with years of condescension from Apple promoters (M$, Windoze ring a bell?), the Apple cult backlash was inevitable. Watching the reaction to Jobs' death didn't help. Don't worry, this too shall pass.

Rob and MJPollard seem to have completely misunderstood the defining theme of the authors post. Rob, you simply sound like a bigot, so your comments speak for themselves. MJPollard however seems to think that if ones bigotry is discerning, and perhaps if ones bigotry can perform simple arithmetic functions like: 37 million users divided by two equals 18,500,000 iTards; Somehow that must make MJPollard's bigotry reasonable to MJPollard. I have yet to meet a member of this mythical cult, and I know a few people that actively promote "The Apple Product Design Philosophy." These people are not iTards, and I know of no person that fits within your bigoted idea of half the Apple users out there. MJPollard, your math stinks.

Until Windows 7, I regularly complained about Windows, including using the M$ and Windoze epithets, even though I used Windows computers by choice and imposition. Windows 7 isn't perfect, but it is immensely better than anything Microsoft has offered before and finally feels smooth and solid. I've never used a Mac, but my impression has always been that they were much nicer, so I've envied Mac users. I do much of my daily work in Linux this past decade. Its stability is ridiculous compared to that of Windows (even Win 7), and the mechanisms for remotely accessing Linux systems is much better, if more arcane, than that for Windows servers, so Linux is much more useful to my daily work. Between the three, then, Windows is the worst OS, but that hasn't stopped me from running many Windows PCs both now and in the past at home. So, I've got legitimate reasons to deride Windows, though I'm sure there are plenty of Apple fanatics who do it to be condescending.

(I should note that I own an iPod Touch. I used Palm OS devices for years, but Palm ruined that option, so iPod was the best alternative. It works nicely, is generally stable, and offers a lot of useful (and many deplorable) apps. iTunes is a pain in the butt, but we're moving away from that! Thus, I am not averse to Apple products, but neither am I a fanboy.)

Ever seen/read Lord of the Flies? I have a pet theory that humans instinctively break into sub-groups with strong identities and battle or oppose other human sub-groups. It happens with tribes, villages, cities, social classes, cultural cliques, religions, races, armies, sports teams, and now even consumer brands like game consoles and computers. We love people inside the group, help them and care for them, and to heck with people outside the group. It emerged in us as a survival trait hundreds of thousands of years ago and apparently has served us very well, because I don't see any sign of it abating.

Not all Apple users are cult-like. Nowadays, not even most of them. But such Apple users do exist (and their counterparts for other systems exist as well.) This site provides many examples, even, of people who proclaim that Apple products are the best thing since sliced bread and everything else is terrible — and that if you don’t agree, you’re stupid.

I agree that this is largely a problem of Apple’s own making, starting with the Mac. Apple’s marketing approach is specifically modeled after religious tactics, even explicitly calling super-fans “evangelists”. Apples advertising campaigns have, for years, driven home this “we’re superior and everyone else is an idiot” message.

Personally, I don’t think buying Apple products makes anyone stupid or that you have to be stupid to buy them. I also don’t think Apple products are inherently a superior choice and that people who find they don’t meet their needs are blind or idiots (which remains a continual refrain in the Apple community, including many commenters here.) In fact, I think that making any kind of personal judgement about people based on their platform preferences is itself idiotic.

That said, there is such a strong current of condescension and smugness from Apple fans that it is hard to respond to them unemotionally. They’ve been calling me stupid for a very long time, and as soon as I hear someone tell me how incredible Apple products are, I instinctively brace myself for the insults because, more often than not, they will be coming.

None of this excuses the prejudice and rudeness that is lobbed back from the non-Apple folks, but it does make it understandable. This is a cultural war that Apple started, and it strikes me a bit odd to hear Apple fans complaining about it now.

I've been a professional software developer for over 25 years. I only buy Macs for my personal use–I have since 1985. I have a degree in Electrical Engineering. I use Windows if required for a job but vastly prefer to use OS X both for its inherent elegance and underlying Unix base. The command line tools available on Windows pale in comparison to what is available in a default install of OS X using a Bash shell.

I don't know what part of that makes me "mindlessly praise a product that I really know little to nothing about" but I guess that is a consequence of knowing little to nothing about computers. People who post things like your example crack me up. Most professional software developers that I know prefer and use Macs.

Computers are like cars: they are complex machines that are simultaneously tools, toys and personal statements.

Some people might buy a shiny new Corvette because they really understand cars and really think it's the best car. Some might buy it because they think it will be fun to drive. Some will buy it because they think it makes them look cool.

Nobody finds this confusing or controversial because cars have been with us for so long. The kids of laptops and palm-tops that Apple sells are pretty new and so how they fit into the culture is somewhat new. So, like there are a lot of different reasons why you might choose an Apple products. You might be like James, who actually understands the details and likes the product based on its technical merits. You also might be an idiot who likes popular shiny things.

What you can say with certainty, however, is that idiots who like popular shiny things are way more likely to buy Apple products than competing technologies. That's not the same thing as saying that all Apple users are idiots who like popular shiny things.

The comment in the article itself about how an Android user can switch to a different brand phone and keep their apps, not being "trapped in one rigid ecosystem" doesn't seem to understand that they in fact, are trapped in Android's ecosystem, regardless of the brand phone running Android.

I owned an Android phone before I switched to an iPhone, and quickly came to hate Android. The user experience for Android owners is a mess, because each phone/tablet company decides whether to upgrade to the latest version of Android, not Google (although Google is trying to set rules on this). So you could buy an Android phone from one company and I could buy a different Android phone from another company, and in 6 months when the newest version of Android comes out, one, both, or neither of us would be able to upgrade, strictly depending on the phone manufacturers and their decision of whether to allow upgrades. It's a shoddy way to treat customers, which is very similar to Windows. Every Windows computer and every Android phone/tablet are different, different versions of the OS, different updates applied, etc. It fractures the user experience into millions of different versions of an OS, so one person can be happy and 5 others frustrated. It's poor managing of products by Google and Microsoft.

Compare that with Apple, who on the other hand, upgrades all iPhones (with the exception of the first two generations, which are ancient in phone years). Every iPhone user gets the same upgrades, the same user experience, and that makes for a consistent experience.

I fully understood his point; an insult to anyone is an insult to everyone, no matter how much you may think it's not. The term iTard implies 'REtard' which implies a mental problem that the victim has no control over. Whether I am a user or one of the Apple Cult, such an insult is unforgivable and shouldn't be condoned by anyone on any side of the argument. Yes, the Cult of Mac is real, but that doesn't mean that they are mentally deficient in any manner no matter how much some people might want to believe so.

I will argue your reasoning because all you have to do is look at the commentary on Pickuptrucks.com and cars.com articles. Beyond that, your simile of the Corvette is honestly rather poor since I could probably take you to a lot of people who would look at it and say, "Yes, it's pretty, but it's not practical." The mere ownership of such a car can be very controversial in different parts of society. Of course, this also means that your last paragraph is not only controversial in its conclusions, but also patently false because even now there are far more people buying Windows machines than Macs, so the relative relationships between "idiots" and "non-idiots" will be roughly equal between the two.

Fred, you are so young that you have it backwards. This did not start with "Think Different" and "I'm a Mac". This propaganda war against Mac buyers started before the first person ever bought a Mac.

It started when paid Microsoft shills, commenting on Steve Jobs' introduction of the Mac in 1984, wrote that Jobs "projected a Reality Distortion Field" that enthralled his mindless fans into believing the Mac could do the impossible. This was a convolution of Bud Tribble's 1981 comment that Steve Jobs' charisma effect the Mac Project Team like a Reality Distortion Field that convinced them that THEY could accomplish the impossible. You know the type of shill I am talking about, they are still around, with Rob Enderle at the top of the heap.

The Mac was too expensive and underpowered, the System was a toy operating system, the applications were useless eye candy, and its' users were idiot kool–aide drinkers. All these attacks were in the print press, and there was no way for the-so-called Mac cultists to respond.

By the nineties, you could not read a review of the Mac that did not contain the word "BUT". Whenever anyone wrote anything positive about the Mac, it was always followed by a "BUT" phrase which usually referred to the Mac's too high price, too little market share, lack of software, limited availability, etc. etc. It was like editors had a stock disclaimer that they tacked on to every Mac article that landed on their desks.

After the introduction of Windows 95, the anti-Mac press developed a new tag-word for Apple and the Mac, "BELEAGUERED". The word beleaguered appeared in every article about Apple and the Mac until it started to seem like a self-fulfilling prophesies.

These attacks on the Mac were picked up and repeated by DOS and later Windows users as catchphrases to explain how they could hate the Mac for so many years only to fall in love with the pathetic Windows 3.0 and 3.1 The average Windows users would say things about the Mac that made it obvious to any Mac user that the person had never touch a Mac to confirm what he was saying.

I remember reading a review of Windows in 1993, in which a PC magazine got a group of DOS users to try a Mac, and to try Windows. I don't remember all the conclusions, but here are a couple that have stuck with me almost twenty years later.

Windows was better because you can't delete a file on the Mac without using a mouse.

The Mac is not intuitive, 42% of the test group did not figure out that the Apple in the top left corner of the screen was a menu, thus they were unable to switch printers.

Yes, one of the test items in the study was, "Delete this file without using the mouse."

Of around the time Windows 3.0 came out, online forums like Compuserve and AOL were becoming popular, and Mac users could respond to the outlandish assault on their beloved Apple.

Interesting how even you drank the Microsoft Kool-Aide. In the I'm a Mac ad campaign, the actors were supposed to be role-playing computers. Microsoft, using "embrace and extend", tried to turn it around so that the actors were people identifying with the computers they used – hence the "I'm a PC" campaign.

M$ is a reaction to the attacks on Apple profit margins. Microsoft's profit margins were – and still are – higher than Apple's. If you don't believe me, look at the latest Fortune 500 listing; Microsoft has higher profits on lower revenues than Apple.

Windoze refers to how long it takes Microsoft to fix bugs and deliver updates to its Mac software in addition to system performance. Understand that Word, Excel, etc. were on the Mac 5 years before they appeared on Windows.

I think there is only one issue here about the Mac cult. There are many many Mac users over the years that have tried to convince me to move to Mac. It really gets old, the same way that many die hard religious fanatics knock on your door trying to save you. I honestly do not believe that the street goes both ways. I have never tried to convince an Mac user to go Windows, and I don't know of any Windows user that spends any effort in this activity. That's why they are a cult. Because some Mac users, not all, act cult like. I have talked to many Windows users, and it has happened to all of us.

This is a statement I can accept at face value… up to a point. The qualifier is that on tech boards pretty much across the market you can see Windows people insisting that their machines are better in every way and that anybody, cultist or no, is a fool and an idiot if they choose to use a Mac instead. I have debated with this type for nigh on 15 years online and pretty much for the entire Apple/PCclone era. Quite honestly it wasn't that the PC was better that carried it into overwhelming dominance, but rather the fact that Microsoft and Windows rode the boot strings of IBM and the PC market into the enterprise where Apple and the others had to try and wriggle into an industry that was already owned by IBM, NCR and yes, even DEC. Corporations knew the IBM name and immediately saw the possibilities for desktop computing.

Apple, Commodore and the others were seen less as full-powered computers by these companies and more as hobby machines–even with the first Macs already on the market. Apple and the Amiga–spun out of Commodore–proved better at graphics at the time but Amiga, for as good as it was and still is, just couldn't get a break while Apple managed to make inroads in the marketing and graphics departments of the enterprise where it made a real name for itself. Apple did make several mistakes along the years–executive management trying first to flood the market with ever-slightly-better hardware every three months which really cause more confusion and delay and then trying to copy the PC with a 'cloning' concept that did nothing more than leech off what few hardware sales Apple had been making and almost turning it into a software-only company.

So while the Cult of Mac does exist, there are many Windows fanatics who are as vocal and in-your-face as the Cultists. Most of these Windows fans use purely emotional arguments often with little or grossly outdated data to support their views. You may not have seen these people for yourself, since you were already a Windows user, but I have and I find them to be equally as annoying as the Cultists.

"“The people I recommend the iPhone 4S for are the ones who are already in the Mac world, because it’s so compatible, and people who are just scared of computers altogether and don’t want to use them. " – S. Wozniak

As said earlier, people like taking sides in debates. Ever since tribal times, through many a war, and on to the modern equivalent – sport – barracking for one side or the other is natural for us humans. And yes, this does degenerate into name calling and baiting the opposition occasionally. Healthy? Probably not, understandable, sure.

But all this got me thinking, why do I favour Apple products? I've been doing so for 26 years there must be a reason, I'm not a cultist, I can see advantages with other systems, so why? It really is pretty simple, they are well engineered, well designed and every few years they create something so much of a jump into the future it takes your breath away.

Apple is one of very few comapnies that can make seismic leaps, and because of their skill (and large fan base!) they move whole industries. Smart phones, weren't particularly before the iPhone. Tablets were a dead-in-the-water category for 10 years before the iPad, the iPod redefined the music industry.

It is not only because they are "shiny" but because the combination of software and hardware regularly re-imagines what is possible. Then they generally keep improving it in a way that builds further commitment and loyal fans (Apple TV, for the moment, aside).

You don't get to be arguably the world's richest company by making shiny stuff for smitten iTards, you do by taking the nexus of current computing power, what is possible and saying this is what we could do, and then fine tuning it into something that for many non-geeks becomes indistinguishable from magic. Then you market it well and they buy.

I'm writing this from a 2007 Macbook that needed one repair, covered under warranty in its first year. It worked steadily through 4 years of college while I watched so many of my friends' PC laptops suffer hardware or software issues or just die out.

I think there is a lot of trendiness around Apple, of course. But they also make great computers, a reason for purchase that I glean may be a silent majority.

Unknowing masses? I ran PC support areas going back to the days when PCs were Apple ][ and CP/M computers. I prefer Apple products, although I still use all sorts of operating systems, and I suspect that I know Windows and Android better than 99% of the people that are claiming they are superior. IMO Microsoft badly needs to do what Apple did with OS X, blow it up and start over again with a small, fast core, using virtualization to run older software. That Windows 8 will still have the registry is very disappointing.

At any rate, take any group that actually understands technology – tech journalists, bloggers, podcasters, etc. and the percentage of those using Macs is huge. The "unknowing masses" – people who sit as desks at work and have their computer decisions made by the IT department – are in fact the ones that use Windows most often, and frequently the IT managers are so lazy and resistant to change that they are using IE 6.

Anyway, I am writing this on an i7 based 11" Macbook Air, which is small, light, powerful, very well built, has a great OS, and even has pretty good futureproofing for a laptop with the Thunderbolt port.

I find it hard to believe that "Idiots" want to call me an "idiot" because my choice of Computer of Smartphone I use! I use a MacBook Pro,iMac ,and IPhone;I also have an HP Windows CE Palmtop,had an IBM Thinkpad,had and still use Palm PDA's,had Toshiba laptops,and use Windows everyday! Who says that I don't like or use other brands? I love gadgets of all types,and you'd be just as STUPID,if you told a BMW-owner,or a Harley Davison-owner that they're an Idiot because they love their choices in brands!! Do you really think I am a mindless follower for using Macs,but the nearly 90% of the public using Windows are free,independent thinkers?? Windows users that use it because most other folks do,are more like sheep than me! I use or have tried Palm,android,IOS,Symbian,and Windows' feeble Mobile attempts!! You have no damn idea what I used or how many brand I enjoy! Stop stereotyping people,and use what YOU LIKE!! I DON'T CARE what you think about my choices,I BOUGHT THEM BASED ON MY OWN CHOICES!!! I've used them all,I don't call my BlackBerry-using friends Idiots ! Jesus Christ,it was MY MONEY!

Hear, hear!
Windows techies talk about "choice" and I'll grant that they get more choice in hardware. On the other hand, the majority of Windows users use Windows because they weren't given a choice in school, at work or at home due to what they were required to use at the other two places. Most Windows users today use it out of habit and even now a high percentage of them don't even know they have a choice available–or hear nothing but negative comments about Apple and OS X from their Windows-centric tech friends and IT staff.

Still, for whatever reason Apple's computers are selling faster than ever and OS X is becoming very visible on the desktop/laptop market–as much to the bad as it's becoming a more visible target for malware writers as it is to the good as more people are realizing they do have a choice and are making more reasoned decisions. As far as name-calling is concerned, my handle says it all; I'm a fox in a world filled with sheep. More than once I've herded those sheep out of dangerous waters and in the process, preyed on a few and helped them to shed their wool. This doesn't necessarily mean I've converted them to OS X but rather that I've helped them to make the best decision for their needs.

From a price based stance, in the desktop market, Apple is a stupid choice. There is always the ability to upgrade any hardware with a regular PC. Unless that's changed, and you can replace or upgrade hardware as needed with Apple desktops?

At Eric: I have PCs that have hit seven years, and from a pretty bad manufacturer (in my experience) no less. It's all about how well you take care of your things.

Stupid choice for a techie, maybe–assuming the techie actually enjoys spending his time on regular maintenance.

On the other hand, the average [i]USER[/i] knows next to nothing about maintenance or upgrades and usually ends up paying through the nose for such work by professionals or techie friends trying to ensure they stay a loyal Windows user. I personally know a number of techie friends who are actually happy to go home to their Macs because they don't have to waste time fixing them and running malware/spyware scans, drive scans or other somewhat 'scheduled' maintenance. Macs, on the average, simply don't demand the kind of maintenance time that generic PCs do. Of course, the more you pay for one of those Windows-only boxes, the better it operates and the longer it lasts. it seems the balance point is just around the same price as a Mac Desktop/laptop machine.

Sure, you can upgrade a PC more easily. You can repair it more easily. That is, if you know how to do it. Since the average user doesn't know or care to know, they really are better off paying a little more for a reliable machine, no matter which platform it runs.

Yeah, that's the ticket; nevermind the quality or aesthetics of your computer, it's all about specs and how knowledgable one is in maintaining it. Spoken like a true tech pundit LOL Let's face it, this kind of thinking is passé at this point. The reality is that more and more people are waking up to the fact that they can "think different" and buy a computer which doesn't require constant maintenance and even looks rather lovely… Two features totally worth paying for IMO. Most of us couldn't care less about upgrading hardware or specs for the things we use the computer for. Having said that, I understand that upgrading is very easy on Macs, actually…